Plant-pollinator-microbe interactions and initial efforts toward two-eyed seeing at Stanford’s biological preserve

Many plant species host a small number of bacterial and yeast species in floral nectar. Initially sterile, the nectar of a new flower gets these microbial inhabitants via pollinators and other flower-visiting animals. This seminar will tell a story of “flowers as islands,” where microbial communities in flowers alter nectar chemistry, pollinator attraction, and seed production. Beyond the specific understanding of the plant-pollinator-microbe interactions at the main study site, Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve (‘Ootchamin ‘Ooyakma), this research has also helped to elucidate general principles of ecological community assembly. The seminar will also discuss recent initial steps taken at JRBP (‘O’O) toward “two-eyed seeing,” the multi-cultural approach to understanding and caring for the land.

Speaker: Tadashi Fukami, Stanford University